


EAD: Murder and Rebirth at St. Rejects

by SpencnerTibbsLuvr (KliqzAngel)



Series: Evil Author Day 2020 [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Anti-Ziva, Case Fic, Child Abuse, Corrupt School Officials, Dreams of Murder, Gen, Murder, Not Jenny Shepard Friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:48:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22742758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KliqzAngel/pseuds/SpencnerTibbsLuvr
Summary: When Tony DiNozzo finds out that the team's latest case is at his former school not so fondly referred to as St. Rejects, he knows that this might be his final chance to make some long overdue changes. Not only does his own conscious depend on it, but the death of a student demands he find him justice.
Series: Evil Author Day 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635247
Comments: 12
Kudos: 136





	EAD: Murder and Rebirth at St. Rejects

**Author's Note:**

> There are some characters in this that will probably be reworked. I started this for a challenge a couple years ago. I am thinking of replotting it and continuing. I think I was originally planning a Tony/Jack pairing thing here, but I don't know if I will do that. If I do it won't be in its original concept.

# Murder and Rebirth at St. Rejects

_The below work is an offering for Evil Author Day 2020. These stories are incomplete, and very much rough drafts. There will be spelling errors, missing commas, bad grammar, incomplete thoughts, and plot holes to name only a few issues. There is NO guarantee any of them will be finished, or that the finished product won’t undergo massive changes. Do NOT bug for more, beg for details, or any other such nonsense, please and thank you._

**Pairing:** Tony DiNozzo/??, Possible Gen.

 **Warnings:** Child Abuse. Corrupt School Officials. Murder. Anti-Ziva. Not Director Shepard Friendly. Dreams of Murder.

 **Note:** There are some characters in this that will probably be reworked. I started this for a challenge a couple years ago. I am thinking of replotting it and continuing. I think I was originally planning a Tony/Jack pairing thing here, but I don't know if I will do that. If I do it won't be in its original concept.

 **Summary:** When Tony DiNozzo finds out that the team's latest case is at his former school not so fondly referred to as St. Rejects, he knows that this might be his final chance to make some long overdue changes. Not only does his own conscious depend on it, but the death of a student demands he find him justice.

**Chapter One:** _The Dream_

Tony found himself standing at the end of a long aisle in a church looking at a coffin sitting at the other end. Frowning, as he listened to the low murmur of people talking, and the louder almost wail of someone crying, he tried to remember how he got there. The last thing that he remembered was going to bed, and now he was standing in this church. Before he could move forward, there was a quick flicker and his surroundings changed.

Instead of being in a large ornate church, he was in an abandoned warehouse. In the middle of it was a single spotlight or some kind of light that shown down on the dirty cement floor. In the middle of this ray of light, hung a boy. It was obvious, even from where Tony stood that he was dead, but before he could move toward him, the image changed, and he was back in the church.

Not sure what was going on, Tony stood still to make sure that the image or scene or whatever he was in wouldn’t change again. When it didn’t though, he moved forward looking at the people sitting in the pews as he moved past them. When he reached the front, he noticed a man sitting straight backed in the front left pew with a woman who appeared to be near the man’s age. She was curled into an older man and letting loose the near wail that was grating on Tony’s nerves. Deciding to ignore them for a bit, he moved forward again until he was standing in front of the open coffin.

Looking down he recognized the boy he’d seen hanging in the warehouse or thought that he did. There was something about him that was bothering Tony, and he made a mental note to figure it out later. It was odd. The boy’s startling blue eyes were wide open and there was blood seeping through the suit he was wearing. Not sure what was happening, he quickly reached forward to press his hands over the bloody spot, but it was as if he’d never touched it. The blood never stopped coming, and all he managed was to get his hands covered in the red substance.

Reaching up to the boy’s neck, he noticed that his skin was warm to his touch, but he felt no pulse underneath his fingertips. Turning to call for help, to let someone know that there was a mistake, he startled when he realized that everyone had disappeared from the pews except for the very front pew with the three people he’d noted earlier. Turning back to the boy, Tony almost fell on his ass when he saw there was no body inside, and the lid suddenly slammed shut.

Tony prided himself on being a good cop and a good agent. Part of that was being highly observant and having quick deduction skills. So, he was coming to realize that something was off about the whole situation, even if it was a dream. Reaching out, he lifted the lid of the coffin, and almost growled with frustration when he found nothing inside but some weights. Spinning back to face the remaining trio on the pew, Tony stepped away from the coffin and closer to the threesome left in the church.

The man was older than Tony, or it seemed that way from the white showing in his dark hair, but younger than the older man who was all white haired and clearly decades older than both Tony or the man. There was something about the suit he was wearing that was off, but it was as if something was keeping him from understanding what it was. The longer he looked at it, the more confused he became, until finally he turned his attention to the man’s face.

Tony noted that he was quite good looking, and in different circumstances knew that he’d find himself attracted to him. It was clear that he was the boy’s father, because they had the same startling blue eyes. The man was obviously fighting to keep his emotions locked behind a blank mask though, and Tony wondered if it was because of the suit that wasn’t a suit or the space between himself and the lady and older man.

Deciding that he couldn’t get anything more from the man, he turned his attention to the woman, and noted that while she still appeared to be almost wailing, there was no sound coming any longer. The longer he studied her, the more he couldn’t help the feeling of absolute wrongness that he felt for the whole scene. It was that last word bouncing around in Tony’s head that finally clued him in on what was bothering him. It was a scene. There was no more reality to it than when Tony acted out bits of his mother’s favorite movies for her friends as they got drunk on their mint juleps or gin and tonics.

The almost wail was overdone. Not that Tony didn’t think she could have been overcome with that amount of emotion at the loss of her child, but it was pretty obvious to him now that he saw it that she just wasn’t. Her eyes didn’t share the same level of grief as the noise she was making indicated. Her eyes were more boredom, as if she couldn’t wait for it all to be over, ringed with an anger that didn’t match the grief she was trying to portray.

It was really the older man though that sealed the fate of her performance. It was as if he wasn’t even trying to act like he was upset. All the emotion that was shown on his face was anger and disgust, and neither were the type to match the current scene they were all in. Even if the man were responsible for the boy’s death, or the older man blamed him for it, the emotions he was showing weren’t the same types to fit that situation. Being a former cop and now a federal agent, Tony knew there were all kinds of anger and disgust. There was angry and getting cut of in traffic, angry at your co-worker for not doing their job, anger at catching your spouse cheating, and anger at someone having killed someone you loved. They were all different and reflected different when genuinely portrayed.

The same could be said for disgust. There was ‘I just stepped in something questionable’ disgust, there was ‘I have no idea what is in this Tupperware, but I don’t think it should be that color’ disgust, there was ‘you’re beneath me’ disgust, and there was ‘I’m going to kill you for simply existing’ disgust.

The anger and disgust that he read on the older man’s face were more of what he’d seen on the face of racists or homophobes as they tried to justify to him whatever horrible thing they’d done as being truly righteous. It wasn’t a ‘you killed my grandson or were responsible for killing my grandson’ type of anger or disgust. With the woman’s act though, and the woman and older man looked enough alike that Tony thought they were daughter and father, it was clear that they wanted you to believe that it was grief they were feeling.

Moving back to the man, Tony looked to see if he’d missed something in him, but the longer he studied him, the more obvious the signs of hidden grief and stress were on him. The dark circles under his eyes, the way the whites of his eyes were redder in color, the way the skin around his eyes was slightly red and swollen as if he’d been crying, the way his hands were clenched so tightly together that his knuckles were white, or the way his jaw twitched every now and then as if he were clenching his teeth together to try and hold something in. No, this man was honestly grieved and mourning the loss of the boy in the casket.

If there even was a boy in the casket.

Before he could think further on that, the scene changed again, and Tony found himself in the hallway of a school. Before he could even wonder where he was, the bell rang, and dozens of kids in uniforms spilled out of the rooms chatting and laughing. Down the hallway though, was a boy also in a uniform, who looked like the boy in the coffin. Like in the church though, before he could investigate, the scene flickered again, and he found himself back in the warehouse. This time standing right in front of the hanging body.

The first thing he noticed was that while the two boys looked remarkably alike, they were obviously two different kids. This one hanging looked a slight bit taller for one and was definitely more well-built. Despite the fact that he was strung up from the warehouse ceiling by his wrists and looked to have been tortured, Tony guessed that it was the bullet to the forehead that actually killed him. He quickly noted that it was the forehead and not the chest where the boy in the casket had been bleeding from. Reaching out to touch him and see what, Tony wasn’t sure, the scene flickered back again before he could make contact.

This time, he was back in the school hallway, the kids had all disappeared, with the exception of the boy. Quickly, Tony headed his way, and noted his appearance. He didn’t need to get past the boy’s eyes to see that he was the same boy that had been in the coffin earlier. His shirt was untucked, and his hair was a mess, but that wasn’t much different from many other teenage boys. His eyes held an anger that Tony was fairly familiar with, having seen it in his own eyes for most of his childhood, and certainly the majority of the years after his mother died. He could see a swell of blood in the same area of his chest that Tony saw in the coffin, but before the thought even registered the image vanished, and the shirt was once more a pristine white.

When he finally reached the boy, Tony tried to reach out to him, but grew frustrated when he found he couldn’t get his arms to move. “Who are you?” Tony asked finally drawing the angry scowl on the boy’s face to only grow deeper. Not understanding why, Tony repeated the question, which just resulted in the boy lunging at him until their faces were mere inches apart.

“That’s not my name!” The boy shouted, and before Tony could react, he woke up finding his room completely dark, and his cell phone ringing.

“Fuck,” Tony muttered as he rolled over and grabbed the device, swiping his thumb over the screen to answer before the call went to voicemail. “DiNozzo.”

“Grandson of Rear Admiral Collins was found hanging in a warehouse in Frederick, Maryland. Went to St. Regents Military School. I’ll be at your house in 15 to pick you up. It’s just you and me.”

Before Tony could say anything to Gibbs’ slew of information, the connection died, and Tony pulled his phone away from his ear to see his boss had hung up on him again. “Good talkin’ to you too, Boss.” Tony muttered, and sitting up tried to shake off the lingering bits of the disturbing dream. “St Rejects, just fuckin’ peachy. No sense in complainin’, DiNozzo. You don’t have the time.”

The next 15 minutes was a whirl of activity as Tony showered quickly and got dressed, made a pot of coffee for the boss and threw it in a thermos, and grabbed his backpack along with his gun, shoulder holster and credentials as he ran out the door. Bypassing the elevator that was out of service again, Tony ran down the stairs and managed to exit the building just as Gibbs was pulling up to the front in a screeching halt. An expert on his boss’ impatience after 5 plus years, Tony threw his backpack in the back seat, before climbing in and just managed to get the door closed before his boss was off again.

Tony knew that the drive to Fredericks, MD would take about half of the normal hour drive time, Tony didn’t waste time on personal musings, and tried to forget the dream that was still lingering. “Do we know anything more, Boss? How come no McGeek and Ninja Chick?”

“School is strictly all boys. No women allowed on campus, and the commandant of the school made it clear to Sheppard that he wasn’t breaking that rule for a foreign operative. Didn’t wanna leave her behind alone, so McGee stayed too. Only know that the Commandant seemed to recognize your name when Jenny mentioned I’d be bringing you and didn’t seem to happy about it. Jenny ordered me to make sure you don’t screw around. You know this guy?”

Tony sighed and looked out his side window before showing Gibbs the thermos of coffee. “Brought you more coffee, Gibbs. I’d hate for you to run low.” A couple miles went by before he spoke again, and Tony was surprised that Gibbs didn’t demand he answer his question.

“St. Regents, or St Rejects as those of us who suffered there not so fondly called it, was one of the many schools I was put in after my mother died. Commandant Marshall is… He’s not a good man, Boss. I mean, none of the military schools I went to were kind and gentle, but he almost took pleasure in brutal violence. He believed in whipping students and it wasn’t unheard of for him or one of his Head Boys to beat the shit out of someone who wasn’t towing the line. We need to be ready for him to be involved in this somehow, and I can guaren-damned-tee you that if he is I’m not letting it be swept under the rug. I know your gut is the one we usually follow, but mine is burning this time. I need…” Tony stopped as he considered all the different ways he could say what needed to be said.

“You need what?” Gibbs finally prompted somewhat impatiently, and Tony decided to just jump in feet first.

“Things have been fucked up between us lately,” Tony started and when Gibbs started to reply, the SFA made a slashing hand motion to quiet him. “No, this is my turn to speak, and your turn to listen, or you can just stop the fucking car now and I’ll get out. My things can be packed, and my resignation submitted before you get back. So, you either listen or that’s it because this case is gonna be a whole fucking boatload of not fun for me. I am not fighting you on top of it.”

When Gibbs’ face showed obvious shock at being reprimanded by his Second in Command, Tony took his silence for agreement and barreled on. “Ever since you rolled over and agreed to let Ziva on the team things have been fucked up. It was bad enough with Kate and McGee with that bullshit with you telling Kate she doesn’t have to listen to me. I get that Ziva shot Ari and saved you, but if you really don’t think there was something behind that then you’ve lost it and need to move on. The fact that she has an agenda, which the new Director is more than happy to encourage, is painfully obvious to those of us that are willing to look. I am not being your punching bag, verbally or physically any longer. You either start following the chain of command or I’m done, and I could give two shits about if it’s how you wanna run your team or not.

“You made me a promise when you brought me over from Baltimore, and you’ve been shitting all over that promise since the little Mossad Princess came onto our team. It’s bad enough that she’s corrupting McGee, who was just finding his own way when Kate died. This may be a newsflash to you Gibbs, but I don’t need your bullshit. I have standing spots with Homeland, the FBI, SIS in England and a handful of PD’s including NYPD and DCPD. So, get your shit together right now, or this experiment ends. This guy is gonna be all fucking over me, because he’s gonna know that he can’t bully and beat the shit outta me like he could when I was a kid. If I can’t trust you to have my six, I’m out. You can talk now.”

When his Boss didn’t immediately start bellowing, Tony looked to make sure the older man hadn’t had a stroke while the SFA was laying out his demands. When he found that the Marine was frowning deeply and stealing a glance at Tony every now and then, the former OSU grad just stayed quiet, knowing Gibbs would speak when he was ready. “Jesus, DiNozzo, I don’t even know where to start. I wanna ask about this asshole hitting you, but how did you know I didn’t shoot Ari.”

Tony rolled his eyes, and in that moment, knew he had to listen to his cousin Aaron Hotchner, whose mother was a sister to Tony’s deceased mother Claire. His cousin was older than him by a few years and had recently been promoted to the spot of Unit Chief over the BAU and led their premiere Criminal Profiling team. He’d been trying to get Tony to drop his immature jock mask that he wore at work and let his co-workers see who he really was. Tony didn’t really wanna leave NCIS or join the FBI, but his cousin had made numerous offers to him to take a leadership spot on his team.

Tony had been putting him off, but he was deadly serious about the demands he’d made to Gibbs and wasn’t willing to stay if shit didn’t change. Tony hadn’t survived Senior’s abuse only to fall into another abusive situation at his place of employment. The SFA knew his worth and knew that it was time he demanded he be treated justly and with the respect he’d earned.

“I like math,” Tony finally admitted with a shy shrug. “I took a lot of it at OSU beyond what I had to. It’s hard to keep my mind busy, and I don’t sleep much. So, even now I take classes on all kinds of things. Bullet trajectory is just math, Boss. There’s no way that you shot Ari from where you were, and it hit him at the angle that it did. I figured that you had your reasons for not saying Ziva did it, so up to this point, I’ve kept my mouth shut. What I’m not willing to do though is ignore the obvious issues that having her on the team causes, or act like she’s superior to me. I mean it, Gibbs. You either start backing me up or I take one of my offers. Aaron would be over the moon to have me on his team.”

“That’s your cousin that works for one of the BAU teams?” Gibbs asked, and Tony nodded. “He’s the Unit Chief now and leads their premiere team. Jason Gideon just quit, and Aaron wants me to come in and be his SIC. I know that we agreed that Kate needed to get comfortable with her spot before I started exerting my authority, but it feels like you just forgot I’m your Senior Field Agent all together. I’m tired of being shit on and being expected to just take it. I know that I don’t always act my position, and I’m willing to change that. In order to do that though, I need to know you’re gonna back me up on shit.”

“Agreed,” Gibbs offered, and Tony could see the honesty on his face. “If you drop some of the juvenile antics, I’ll stop the head slaps and help enforce the Chain of Command. You think your cousin would do an investigation into the connection between the Director and Ziva and keep it on the down low? Something feels fishy there.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed surprised, “I don’t know if his team can do it themselves, but I am sure he can get it done. He’s been hinting that he wants to investigate the legalities of having Ziva on the team. You know how he was a lawyer, and he is pretty sure that there’s going to be a shit load of problems with her working cases. So, yeah. I am pretty sure that I can get him to do some investigating. What’s the deal with you and Sheppard? Every time she looks at you cartoon hears pop into her eyes. It’s kinda weird.”

“Let’s just say that she’s the reason for Rule #12,” Gibbs said dryly, “It’s a mistake that I won’t make again. I promise that I’ll have your back at the school. I can’t believe I’ve fucked this up so much that you think I wouldn’t. Riggs has been kicking my ass about how things at work have been going and made me go see his fuckin’ shrink. So, yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while. I just didn’t realize that I’d screwed the pooch so badly. This Commandant really beat you?”

“Yeah, me and a lot of other kids,” Tony admitted quietly as he turned over the idea that Gibbs was dating a man. He knew that he was seeing someone knew, and had been introduced to Martin Riggs, who worked for DC PD, but hadn’t put the two together. He decided that he’d think about that late though, because his Boss really did need to know about Marshall. “I don’t know how he got his job. I tried to raise a fuss once, but he apparently has some really powerful friends. When I say he whips kids, I mean whips and draws blood. HE’s never gone so far to kill one though, and I’m not sure I see him hanging someone in a warehouse from his wrists.”

“How the hell did you know that?” Gibbs asked butting into Tony’s ramble, startling him silent for a moment. Reviewing the conversation, the SFA winced when he realized what he’d said.

“Sorry, Boss. I had this fucked up dream right before you called, or rather, your call woke me up from it, and I can’t get it out of my head. I didn’t mean to imply our kid was hanging from his wrists since obviously we can’t know that…”

“No, he is,” Gibbs inserted stopping Tony again and startling him to silence once more. “I forgot to mention it earlier. I meant to tell you when you asked what more I knew, but then we got onto this other conversation. The kid was found in an abandoned warehouse hanging from one of the rafters by a chain that was wrapped around his wrists.”

“Holy fuck,” Tony whispered moving his head from one side to the other slowly, trying to deny what he was hearing. “I don’t… It was just a dream, Boss.”

“Well, fortunately, I can prove that you were home when I called. There’s no way you could have gotten from Maryland to your house in 15 minutes, although, we have no idea when he was actually hung. That’s… You just keep this dream between us for now. At some point though, I want to hear more about it. If something else that comes in matches in the meantime, just mention something about the Sandman and I’ll know what you’re referring to. As for this Commandant, I don’t give a shit who he’s connected to. If what’s you say is true, we’re gonna get that shit stopped. I’m not saying I don’t believe you, we are just gonna need to get evidence, and it’s gonna have to be something you aren’t connected to since you’d be a witness. Damnit, I’m gonna have to think on this. May need to give Morrow a call and see if he has an idea.”

Not knowing what else to say, Tony just gave a nod, and turned his attention to his side window again, and the landscape that was rushing by in the darkness. Surely his dream was just a coincidence, right? Who the hell ever heard of people actually having visions?

Jesus, this was gonna be one fucked up case.

**Chapter Two:** A _Dream Meets Reality_

When they pulled up outside of the warehouse, Tony got out of the car and shivered at the coolness of the early summer air. Wishing that he’d brought a jacket with him, he opened the backseat door and pulled out his backpack. After throwing it over his shoulder, he hurried forward to catch up to Gibbs who had already started toward their crime scene. Nodding at the LEOs as he went by, Tony also flashed his credentials, and managed to fall into step just behind Gibbs shoulder in his normal spot as they reached the warehouse door.

The inside was… not as unfamiliar as Tony was hoping, and he found himself stumbling as he walked through the doorway. Reaching out, he grabbed Gibbs’ shoulder to keep himself from stumbling drawing an annoyed frown from the man. “Sorry, Boss. Sandman seems to have stolen my coordination.” When his Boss just nodded stiffly, Tony knew the message had been relayed, and took some time to dig out his camera so that he could begin taking pictures.

The building was old, and the windows running just below the roof line were surprisingly more intact than broken. Because it was still pre-dawn, the scene was pretty dark, and Tony wondered why they hadn’t set up spot-lights to illuminate the scene yet. He stubbornly ignored the fact that one of the windows had broken in just the right position to let in the bright moonlight so that it shown perfectly on their victim.

Taking a deep breath to try and steady his nerves, Tony began taking pictures, but couldn’t help but let loose a swear as he studied the face through the lens of the camera. “Jesus, fuck,” he muttered quietly, and when Gibbs arched an eyebrow at him, he just shook his head. It seemed that he’d really have to explain his whole dream to his boss later. Further introspection was cut off as he began taking pictures so that the ME could finally take the victim down.

The boy was young, although maybe older than he seemed to Tony. He’d found that as he got older teenagers seemed younger and younger and wasn’t sure if that was unique to him or just how things worked. He’d guess thought that this kid was probably 16 or 17 and likely either a Junior or Senior at the Military Academy. The boy was completely naked, except for a pair of boxer briefs that clung to him almost stubbornly. There were bruises all over his body and face making it clear that the boy had been beat quite severely before the final shot to the forehead that most likely killed him.

Off to the side, he could hear Gibbs talking to the ME, and felt a pang of oddness at not hearing Tony’s cultured brogue giving his boss the rundown on his findings so far. Deciding that he’d taken all the pictures that he needed at the moment, Tony pulled a pair of rubber gloves out of his backpack as he swung the camera around to rest against his back, in case he couldn’t stop his urge to touch. Inside, he could feel the panic and anxiousness flaring up inside of him at how much this boy really looked like his dream. He had no idea what was going on, but he wasn’t looking forward to whatever the hell was going on.

“ME thinks that the body’s been here several hours,” Gibbs said softly having come up behind Tony, who had switched to sketching to try and keep himself busy. “He puts the time of death at sometime between 7PM and 9PM last night. So, since you were in the bullpen until 9:30PM when I sent you home, you’re in the clear. We will be talking about this dream though when we get some privacy. You see a face in your dream?”

Not trusting his voice to speak, Tony nodded and just showed Gibbs the drawing he was making of the boy hoping that his boss understood what he was saying. “Shit, what the fuck is going on?” The Marine asked, and Tony knew a rhetorical question when he heard one, or at least he hoped that was what it was. He had no more idea of what he was getting caught up in than his boss did.

“Well, if it isn’t little Richie Rich DiNozzo,” a voice from behind them boomed loudly and obnoxiously, and Tony couldn’t help the reactionary flinch at the sound. Unfortunately, his boss was still standing right there, and by the way his blue eyes narrowed, hadn’t missed it.

Just in time, Tony turned to see Gibbs stride up to meet the Commandant putting himself in the man’s space. “That’ll be Special Agent DiNozzo to you, Commandant Marshall. I don’t give a shit who your friends with. You will treat my agent with the respect he deserves. I think you’ll find I have quite a few friends of my own.”

“Oh really,” The Commandant said with a laugh, but Gibbs just smirked at him back.

“Yeah, really. You’re not the only one with friends in the right places who served his country. However, unlike you, my friends are well aware of how valuable to NCIS Special Agent DiNozzo is. I’m also guessing your friends don’t know all of your dirt.”

Tony, who had been about to start bagging and tagging, paused to look back at the two men. He forced himself not to react to the Commandant’s glare. “That’s gonna earn you, boy.” The older man growled, and Tony just cocked his head to one side.

“Earn me what?” Tony asked aloud throwing in a smirk knowing how much it irritated the man. “I’m not so easy to punish these days. At least not using your preferred methods. Surely, you didn’t think that I would keep your secrets. If I had my way, you would have been called to the carpet long ago, and if I have my way now, the right people will know what you’ve been doing at this school by the end of this investigation. Boss, I’m gonna bag and tag.”

Gibbs just nodded, but as Tony turned his attention to his job, he kept half an ear on the conversation. Being as the warehouse was mostly empty, it wasn’t hard to do. He let his mind wander on why the Commandant was even on the scene or how he’d gotten past the LEOs. It was something that he was going to have to think on. Just as he was about to say something about it to Gibbs though, his boss must have had the same idea, as well, because he heard the older man start demanding the Military School Leader leave the premises. As he was escorting the man out, the were passing by where Tony was bagging and tagging, and he heard Marshall say that he’d make the friends available, but that they couldn’t have access to the roommate.

Before Gibbs could speak, Tony commented without looking up from what he was doing, trusting his boss to watch his back. “He in The Hole, or is he in the infirmary recovering from The Hole? Either way, I’m pretty sure that the Boss wasn’t really asking as much as he was telling. I would suggest that you make him available before I go find a reporter and start talking about everything I know that went down here. Being a former victim of yours and a current Federal Agent, I am pretty sure they’ll at least listen to what I have to say.”

He heard Gibbs give a shout as he ordered Marshall back, and quickly turned with his hand on his weapon. “I owe you shit Marshall! Make the boy available. In fact, he better be the first one we talk to.”

“Out, Marshall!” Gibbs ordered with a growl, “Before I arrest you for trespassing on my damn crime scene!”

Pushing the confrontation out of his mind, Tony turned back to his work. He was just putting down a marker and taking pictures of a cigarette butt when he felt his boss come up behind him. “I need you to keep your head on straight, DiNozzo. I know you’re pissed, but you need to keep your prior experience here out of this. Otherwise I’m gonna have to replace you.”

“Head’s just where it needs to be, Boss,” Tony promised not looking up from what he was doing. When he saw Gibbs finally walk away, he gave a mental sigh, and told himself that he was going to have to do a better job of controlling his temper. If his dream continued to come true, it seemed that he had something even more important to accomplish here than just finding out who murdered their cadet.

**Author's Note:**

> If this story is completed, this post will be deleted without warning.


End file.
